Stand-up comic Mel prepares for Edinburgh Festival

A Burnley-born stand-up comic is preparing to make her Edinburgh Festival debut – and her routine could be one of the most personal of the whole event.

Mel Moon, who attended Fisher More and St Hilda’s RC High Schools, recently overcame a crippling illness which was so severe she even contemplated suicide.

Mel, who lived in Harle Syke, grew up in Nelson where her parents David and Zina still live.

The mother-of-two, now living in Crawley, West Sussex, was struck down two years ago by a debilitating illness which countless doctors – 27 in total – struggled to diagnose.

The mental and physical pain the 35-year-old suffered led Mel to contact euthanasia organisations.

Mel said: “I fought and decided to make something good of my illness and experience so ‘Sick Girl’ the show was born.

“I was having an adrenal crisis and my body was shutting down. We each make a stress hormone and it allows our body to handle things without enduring too much.

“At hospital I was given an emergency injection and began to come around. That’s when my consultant told me he believed the problem was my endocrine system – the glands that secrete hormones in your blood stream.

“I was given a new drug, a growth hormone that helped immensely. As months passed I saw it was working. I can’t tell you how elated I felt the day I was able to play a ball game with my children. How their faces lit up. I stopped fighting for death and began fighting for life.

“Months later my body is slowly improving. I love my consultant as if he were family and will love him until the day I do die.

“I realised I finally had something I wanted to say in Edinburgh, that life is wonderful and you should fight for it vehemently. However, should the day arrive when that fight is too much you should have a say in whether you wish to continue and that choice should be yours, and yours alone.”

Now, Mel is looking for the public’s help in promoting her show – she is chasing dreams, again rather than death.

She added: “Posters, fliers, venue all come at a price. If the public could help me achieve my dream I’d be so grateful. There is a PayPal account set up melmoon.co.uk@gmail.com for donations.”

Mel will be performing ‘Sick Girl’ at the ACE Centre, Nelson, on Friday, September 4th before she takes it to the lofty heights of Edinburgh.